​Terror does not retain Belgians from travelling, despite terrorist attacks in Tunisia, France and Egypt. This is quite a relief!

​Of course, there are some shifts in the choice of a holiday destination for 2016.

An important recent survey among Belgian citizens shows that 78% of them plans at least one vacation this Summer, exactly the same share as last year. ‘Belgians consider going on holiday as an acquired right’, says Pierre Fivet, president of the Association of Belgian Tour Operators, that ordered this broad survey at the independent market research agency WES, covering the organized as well as the non-organized market in Belgium.

Vacation plans remain unchanged versus 2015. As in previous years, over three quarters of Belgians will travel at least once. This makes 11.7 million potential holidays, according to the research. Hardly 300,000 less than in 2015 and the same as in 2014. Already 3.1 million of potentially 11.7 million holidays were booked in January 2016. That is exactly the same as in 2015, which means that Belgians booked a little earlier this year.

Of course, there are quite some shifts in the choice of a destination. France, which remains the number one holiday destination for the Belgians, loses 4 percentage points till 20.4%, due to the decrease of holidays to Disneyland or Paris, while other regions in France remain stable. More people will spend their holidays in their home country (12.9%) or opt for Spain (11.4%), mainly at the expense of Turkey, which is no surprising news.